WIMBLEDON, England — Chair umpires have made no shortage of announcements through the decades at Wimbledon, but not many could have felt the need to say what Carlos Ramos said Wednesday as Jerzy Janowicz and Lukasz Kubot reached a critical phase of the second set on Court 1.

“Please, as a courtesy to the players, can we please get back to this match,” Ramos said to the crowd. “Thank you.”

These, clearly, were unusual circumstances. Henman Hill lies just outside Court 1, and the crowd gathered on that grassy slope was not watching big-screen television coverage of Janowicz and Kubot. It was watching coverage of the British star Andy Murray’s perilous match with Fernando Verdasco that was being played across the concourse on Centre Court.

The predominantly British fans inside Court 1 were watching Murray on their smartphones and also picking up on reactions from the Hill: roaring and groaning themselves, often out of sync with the triumphs and disasters available in the match at hand.

But in truth, they had another quality tennis tale developing right in front of them: the first all-Polish men’s singles match in Grand Slam history. That it came in a Wimbledon quarterfinal made it even more of a novelty, and when it ended, the 22-year-old Janowicz was the first Polish man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

Janowicz, a 6-foot-8 force of nature, has not been universally embraced by his elders because of his demonstrative, in-your-face style and perhaps because of the obvious threat he now poses with his massive serve (an overused term that truly applies) and his surprising touch and mobility.

But he and the 31-year-old Kubot are Davis Cup teammates as well as countrymen and when Janowicz’s 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 victory was complete and Janowicz had dropped to the grass with a mixture of disbelief and delight, Kubot soon crossed to his side of the net, waited for him to rise to his feet and hugged him.

It was a long embrace, longer than Kubot expected as the taller Janowicz buried his head in his shoulder and they exchanged thumps on the back. When it ended, they borrowed a rite from soccer and swapped shirts even if they were, in a sense, representing the same team.

“It was first time,” Kubot said. “It just came quick to my mind: ‘Let’s do it, and let’s do it quickly and show it’s not just about playing and challenging each other on the court. Just show the friendship and show that Polish tennis is getting better and we have one player in the semifinals.’ ”

In fact, Poland has two singles players in the semifinals, and one more than that if you count Polish roots. Agnieszka Radwanska, the No. 4 seed in the women’s tournament, is back in the semifinals after reaching the final last year. Though she is as subtle as Janowicz is brash, they are on fine terms.

“I know her many, many years,” Janowicz said. “We stay in touch all the time. She’s my really good friend.”

On Thursday, Radwanska will face Sabine Lisicki, the powerful German whose parents are Polish immigrants and who speaks the language and understands the culture.

“It’s amazing; this is the Polish Wimbledon,” said Wojtek Fibak, the last Polish man to advance to the final eight in a Grand Slam tournament.

Fibak has long called Radwanska “a tennis genius” for her artful, adaptive approach to the game, but he said Janowicz was the one grabbing the most attention at home. “You need quite the connoisseur to appreciate Radwanska’s tennis,” Fibak said in a phone interview. “Because she doesn’t come across as the athlete, she doesn’t hit big. Janowicz is much easier to appreciate and understand for the Polish people because he’s tall and big and hits hard.”

Fibak, now 60, was ranked as high as No. 10 and reached the quarterfinals at four different major tournaments, the last run coming at the 1980 United States Open. He later coached and advised Ivan Lendl, the great Czech champion who eventually took United States nationality and now coaches Murray.

For years, Fibak waited for Polish successors without success. “On the men’s side, nobody even played in Wimbledon for 20 years,” Fibak said. “There was no Polish player in the main draw, much less two guys in the quarterfinals.”

Kubot, in light of his age and ranking of 130, will likely struggle to get this far again, which is a pity considering how delightful it was to watch his throwback serve-and-volley style in the second week of the tournament where it was once a full-fortnight staple.

The fans, when they were not focused on the Murray developments, seemed to appreciate Kubot’s deft low volleys and fast-twitch reactions, too.

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But the Wimbledon crowd is likely to get other chances through the years to appreciate Janowicz, who was seeded 24th here and is now guaranteed to break into the top 20 after his first run to a Grand Slam semifinal, where he will face Murray.

“I hope Andy will feel some kind of pressure,” Janowicz said. “I’m sure he feel some kind of pressure because Great Britain is waiting for the English champion in Wimbledon.”

The rough-cut Janowicz knows he can beat Murray. He defeated him in three sets last November when he announced himself to the tennis world at large by reaching the final of the Masters 1000 indoor event in Paris.

“I think he has potential to be, for sure, top 5 player,” Kubot said. “With his character he can beat everyone, I think. He can focus for the next game, and let’s see what’s going to happen.”

Though it is an unexpected matchup — Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were once in this half of the draw, remember? — it is also a compelling matchup. It will be the increasingly mature Murray and his home-court support against the combustible Janowicz, who looks like the sort of ill-shaven competitor who enjoys a big occasion even if the roars are against him.

It will be Murray’s world-class returns against Janowicz’s explosive serve, delivered at a top speed of 140 miles per hour Wednesday. His serve, like many a great serve, is compact, and the astonishing racket-head acceleration is reminiscent of the swing speed that Andy Roddick used to generate.

“He’s got a very, very good serve and variations of the serves,” Kubot said. “It’s not only they’re big, powerful, but it’s always, you know, a little bit slice; little bit keep mixing it up, which makes it very difficult, especially on the surface which is grass.”

Janowicz’s boyhood idol was Pete Sampras, winner of seven Wimbledons, and Janowicz’s numbers against Kubot were certainly numbers that Sampras could have been content with: 30 aces in just three sets and a remarkable 90 percent of his first-serve points won.

But what is also intriguing about Janowicz is that, despite his height, he is agile. He does not move like any tennis player of comparable size has moved at this level. The 6-foot-9 John Isner and 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic are lumbering in comparison.

“He’s like a Kevin Durant,” said Peter Fleming, the former American doubles star working as a television analyst here.

Janowicz also has nervous energy to burn and no apparent reticence to share his emotions. They were on display for Kubot and everyone else in Court 1 as he dropped to his knees after match point, covered his eyes with both hands and then rolled onto his back on the close-cropped lawn where Sampras once played.

He was soon shaking with the force of it all, sitting in the courtside chair that looked too small for him and crying while Kubot, now in possession of Janowicz’s shirt, waited politely for him so they could walk out together.